Florida the rules are different here Chapter X

You just have to love stories like this. A state official forced out of one job by scandal gets re-hired again. Reminds me of this story in Palm Beach County. Tom Lewis is a joke too. You're telling me a nine month search was done and Dimond was the best to come up? I'd give Lewis tomorrow's Knucklehead award but I got someone else lined up. Make Tom Lewis the Florida Knucklehead of the day.

Open Post- Basil's Blog, Bright & Early, Is it just me?, Right Wing Nation,

TALLAHASSEE - Florida's Department of Management Services has hired an executive who was forced out of his last government job after one of his deputies took bribes.

Tim Dimond was hired last week as director of facilities management, overseeing 330 employees and the management and leasing of all state offices and buildings at an annual salary of $100,000.

Dimond resigned as property management director for the District of Columbia in June 2003, a month after an auditor called for him to be fired for failing to properly oversee a deputy director who pleaded guilty to taking bribes from developers.

Florida Management Services Secretary Tom Lewis said he knew of Dimond's background and discussed it with Gov. Jeb Bush's staff before he offered Dimond a job.

''We had very candid conversations with him where he said he believed he had hired someone who lied to him and misled him . . . and in the end he did the right thing, he took responsibility for the performance of his employees and resigned,'' Lewis said. ``I believe we have hired the best person for the job.''

Dimond's hire came after an extensive search over nine months, Lewis said.

A graduate of Barry University in Miami, Dimond has spent the past two years working as a senior vice president for Coldwell Banker Commercial in Tysons Corner, Va., and has worked in the commercial property management industry for 18 years. He didn't return a phone message left with a department spokeswoman Saturday.

State Sen. Nancy Argenziano, a Dunnellon Republican who has criticized the state's supervision of contracts, said Dimond's hiring is evidence of poor decision-making.

''At a time when DMS is being scrutinized by the legislative process is not the time to hire someone accused of misfeasance,'' she said.